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SAN FELIPET (THE SMALL FORT OF SAN FELIPE) (Island of Lazareto)

This Martello tower was built in 1798, on the former site of an old fort of the same name which was demolished in 1782, by order of Carlos III of Spain. The Engineer Captain Robert D´Arcy, was chief of works, under General Stuart´s command, and was responsible for the Martello towers built around the entrance to the port of Mahón. It was built on three levels. The ground floor was used for storage. The first floor was used for billeting the troops, and the top of the tower for combat. At present the tower has a door on the ground floor and the first floor has collapsed.

In the immediate surrounding area of the tower, is a six gun battery in barbetta, which is a mound of earth or a protected platform from which guns fire over a parapet, for a further guns, located on the easterly point of the island of the Lazaretto. The barbetta was built during the same period, in which the tower was built, in 1798-99, during the last British occupation of Menorca.